Rumor Roundup: August’s 11 Big Rumors True or Not?

Here’s the updated status of the rumors that made the rounds in the entertainment world last month.

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Jason Momoa is Aquaman and is getting his own movie

News outlets are widely reporting that Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa has landed the role of the hero Aquaman in Zach Snyder’s upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, though Warner Bros. has yet to confirm that role. Earlier in August, The Hollywood Reporteralso said that Warner Bros. is planning a stand-alone Aquaman movie as one of the nine as-yet-untitled movies based on DC comics the studio has promised between 2016 and 2020. The publication said that in order to get the ball rolling on the project more quickly, Warner has hired two different writers to pen two different scripts, and the studio will then choose which one it wants to develop.

Status: Half-confirmed. Warner Bros. has registered the domain name of AquamanMovie.com, confirming plans for a stand-alone film about the hero. As for Momoa, it’s still uncertain if he’s going to be Aquaman. Speaking to The Oregonian, Momoa said “I have no idea” when asked about the role.

Source: Marvel

Marvel Inhuman movie coming?

Upon the critical and box office success of Marvel’s recent film Guardians of the Galaxy, the company now has proof that its brand is strong enough to sell even unrecognizable characters. That opens up a huge amount of comic book material that Marvel can now be confident about profitably turning into a blockbuster movie. According to sources who spoke to Collider at the beginning of August, Marvel is planning to make a star-studded movie out of the little-known strip The Inhumans, handling the process similarly to the way it did Guardians. Vin Diesel, who provided a voice role in Guardians, has already dropped a hint that he’ll be involved in The Inhumans too.

Status: Uncertain. Nothing more has been said or rumored either way about an Inhumans movie.

Carl Court / AFP / Getty Images

Michael Fassbender is giving up on the Assassin’s Creed movie

The actor has long been set to produce and star in a feature film based on the popular video game, but due to slow-downs in production, recently rumors have been floating around that Fassbender was giving up on the project after being unhappy with the script.

Status: Debunked. “I know, I love these rumors!” Fassbender said in an interview with IGN while promoting his new indie film, Frank. “It’s fantastic. People talk about it, and they’re hopefully interested. Nothing has changed, yeah. I’m still a part of Assassin’s Creed, and we’re working on the script as we speak. Actually, I’m going to go back and see the writers when I get back to Europe.”

It seems that the project is still moving forward, though fanboys eager for details are having to turn to yet more rumors from anonymous sources. Film Dividerreported that the movie will have an original storyline set within the world of the popular video game and Fassbender will play two roles in the film, one as a death row inmate and one as an assassin during the Spanish Inquisition.

Source: Disney

Into the Woods will be tame

Earlier this year, Stephen Sondheim made some controversial comments about the upcoming Disney film version of his beloved dark musical Into the Woods, suggesting that the movie was going to be a tame, sanitized version of the musical and would even cut some songs. Director Rob Marshall toldEntertainment Weekly that the movie will be full of all the death and sex and songs that fans love in the musical. “I’m actually really impressed Disney’s doing this film, because it’s very brave. I don’t feel we’ve watered it down in any way, shape, or form. We’ve just made it a film. But I never thought in terms of ‘the Disney’ of it all, ever. None of us did,” Marshall said to the publication.

Status: Unchanged. Sondheim hasn’t responded to Marshall’s rebuff of his statements, but theater nerds will have to wait until Christmas to see the movie and find out if Marshall and Disney remained true to Sondheim’s production.

Source: Thinkstock

Michael Bay is not returning to direct Transformers 5

Master of the summer blockbuster Michael Bay told USA Today that he would like for another director to take over the franchise so that he would have more time to pursue other projects. “There’s kind of a new chapter, a new direction in movies I want to make,” Bay told the publication. “I have a lot of stories to tell. And it’s about flexing new muscles.” One of the projects he said he wants to work on once he has more free time is a documentary on elephant poaching, and he’ll have to keep up with his increasingly extensive projects as a producer.

Status: Unchanged. It seems that Bay is still going to hand over the franchise to another director. Mark Wahlberg, who starred in the fourth installment Age of Extinction, doesn’t want to make a Transformers sequel either, according toChristian Post. One big star that is rumored to be eying the project is Megan Fox of all people, the star of the first two Transformers films who famously left the project after publicly comparing Bay to Hitler. The two have since made up, and MoviePilotreports that Fox is very interested in returning to the franchise.

Source: Marvel

Captain America 3 Could Be More Epic Than The Avengers: Age of Ultron

According to an exclusive report from CinemaBlend, the directors behind Captain America have some big aspirations for the third installment in the Marvel series. The third film is planned to hit theaters in May 2016, and in addition to Hawkeye, played by Jeremy Renner, the Russo brothers have their eye on some even bigger characters from the Marvel universe.

Joe Russo told the publication that he’d be interested in getting Marvel characters under contract at another studio for a “Black Widow-sized” role in the third movie and cited the comic The Secret Wars as a big influence on his love of comics. The Secret Wars involves pretty much every Marvel character as they are transported to a distant planet for a giant battle of heroes versus villains. The idea of Captain America 3 taking from the plot of The Secret Wars is an exciting prospect for comic fans, but the scope will depend on whether Marvel can get its hands on any characters it doesn’t own (like Sony’s Spider-Man).

Status: The rumors about Captain America 3 are only getting crazier. Fans are now speculating that Captain America will be killed off in the movie and the Russo brothers are promising surprises. “We just got another incredible draft from the writers and are very excited about the film,” Anthony Russo toldMovies.com. “I can’t divulge who is going to be in the film, but I think the fans are going to freak out when they hear about it.”

Andrew Cowie / AFP / Getty Images

Jack Huston in the running to play Doctor Strange

The last couple of names thrown around to play Doctor Strange were Mad Men’s Jon Hamm and Joaquin Phoenix, but in late August Boardwalk Empire’s Jack Huston started being named as a highly probable candidate for the role, with his odds even more favorable than Hamm or Phoenix. According to sources who spoke to This Is Famous, Huston was the lead actor in the running for the role and is willing to accept Marvel’s terms more readily than a more established actor of the caliber of Hamm or Phoenix. Huston fits the mold of what Marvel generally looks for in its stars: a known actor who’s not a huge star, and at 31, he’s around the right age, and his celebrity is growing.

Status: Phoenix’s name has floated back to the top of the heap for the part, though he’s still not confirmed and various outlets are reporting that he may be reluctant to take on the responsibilities involved in being a part of a Marvel franchise, which is what some had been saying all along about the eccentric actor. While Entertainment Weeklyreports that Phoenix is in final talks with Marvel about the part and his role is all but a done deal, nothing is certain until there’s an official statement.

Source: ABC

Full House Reunion

The beloved ’90s sitcom that helped Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen rise to fame as toddlers might be making a comeback, according to a report from TV Guide. The show continues to get great ratings on Nick at Nite despite having ended in 1995, and star John Stamos, who owns a stake in the series, is reported to be leading the quest to bring Full House back to TV with as much of the original cast as possible.

Don’t get your hopes up about an appearance from the Olsens, but cast members like Candace Cameron Bure (D.J.), Jodie Sweetin (Stephanie), and Andrea Barber (Kimmy) are down for a reunion, while Bob Saget (Danny) and Dave Coulier (Joey) will be involved in some way. Original executive producer Bob Boyett is also involved, and creator Jeff Franklin will write the new version, according to the report.

Status: Mostly unchanged. People has published snippets of an interview with Saget from back in April in which he said that it’s unlikely that the entire cast would return for a reboot, which isn’t much of a surprise. Aside from the Olsens, Lori Loughlin is another star that probably won’t return to the series as she’s busy with her own show on the Hallmark channel, When Calls the Heart.

Evening Standard / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Martin Scorsese to Direct Ramones Biopic

Earlier this year, Tommy Ramone, the last living member of the legendary punk band the Ramones, passed away, and in the wake of his death it seems the screwed up legacy of the Ramones’ estate is getting straightened out and some interesting things are coming out of it, according to a report from Billboard, which covered the 10th annual tribute to guitarist Johnny Ramone at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on August 24. Johnny Ramone’s wife, Linda, and lead singer Joey Ramone’s brother, Mickey, have been at odds for years, each owning half of the band’s estate, but now things seem to have been worked out between the two. They had carried on the infamous feud between Joey and Johnny when Johnny essentially stole Linda from the insecure Joey. “We can move on now and do Ramones, cause me and Mickey now are friends, so that’s cool,” Linda Ramone told Billboard.

One of the things that moving on is allowing them to pursue is a biopic, which the publication says has Martin Scorsese attached to direct. With the 40th anniversary of the Ramones’ debut album coming up in 2016, let the casting rumors for the movie begin.

Status: A rep for Scorsese confirmed to The Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog that the project is a go, but noted that the movie is “a long way off.” Given Scorsese’s current lineup of TV projects with HBO and a biopic of another very different musician, Frank Sinatra, a Ramones movie would have to be a ways in the future if the director was going to do it.

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Vince Vaughn to Star in True Detective Season 2

It seems like almost every actor in Hollywood has been rumored to be the new star of the hit anthology series True Detective. In August, we knew that Jessica Chastain and Christian Bale were not involved, and Vince Vaughn and Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss rose to the top of the rumor mill. According to The Wrap, funnyman Vaughn is in preliminary talks to play the main antagonist in HBO’s anthropology drama series and Moss will be the female lead.

Colin Farrell’s name has popped up as a contender for a main role on the show since mid-July, and it seems likely he’s still involved. The Wrap’s report said Vaughn is in talks to play the character of Frank Semyon, a “thug turned businessman” working with a local mayor to push forward a lucrative deal for the construction of a railway system linking Southern and Northern California. For the female lead, Moss would play a no-nonsense sheriff with a penchant for gambling and alcohol. Farrell is apparently closing a deal to play Ray Valcoro, a tumultuous addict who works for Frank.

Status: For now, Vaughn, Farrell, and Moss are still the top-rumored actors for the show, but there’s been no confirmation from HBO or creator Nic Pizzolatto about the casting.

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Jennifer Lawrence to Star in Tarantino’s Western The Hateful Eight

Jennifer Lawrence is reportedly in early talks to join the cast of Quentin Tarantino’s next movie, the Western The Hateful Eight. According to Collider, the Oscar-winning actress is actively involved in discussions regarding a part in the film. The script for The Hateful Eight leaked online earlier this year, prompting Tarantino to say he would drop the project due to his depression over having had it escape from his trusted inner circle only to make its way online.

However, at Comic-Con, Tarantino announced that the project was back on and Lawrence’s name rose to the forefront of the rumor mill. Lawrence’s publicist recently denied the casting rumor in a statement to The Wrap reporter Jeff Sneider, which read, “Despite Internet rumors, her reps have confirmed she’s not doing this project.” However, reps often deny casting rumors while talks are still ongoing and their statement doesn’t necessarily mean that Lawrence isn’t considering a role in the movie.

Status: JLaw still seems to be the favorite for the film’s female lead, though there haven’t been any casting confirmations for the movie.